Missing In Action
by funk2242
Summary: Mrs. Jones walked into the room and closed the door rather huffily. "Alex Rider is missing in action."
1. Missing In Action

Mrs. Jones walked into Mr. Blunt's office and closed the door rather huffily.

"What is the matter?"

"Alex Rider is missing in action."

xxx

Alex Rider had been crouching in the foliage when strong hands grabbed him from behind. Very much surprised, Alex lashed out with his foot, but it only met thin air. Suddenly a man was in front of him, holding a canister of Mace. Alex closed his eyes, but the Mace still got into his nose. Alex felt a burning sensation, then something slammed into his jaw and everything went black. 


	2. The Training Camp

Alex felt cold water being poured on his face. Then he woke up in the foliage again. Two guards grabbed him and forced him to his feet. Alex staggered and followed them, his hands and feet shackled. The small trio arrived at a limousine. Another guard was there, cradling a machine gun, and when he saw them, he spoke briefly into his radio, then opened the back door of the limo. The guards forced Alex into the limo, and Alex decided to make a smart remark.

"Wow. Big-time comfort for small prisoners, eh?"

Bad idea. The guard with the machine gun slammed the butt into Alex's stomach. Doubled over with pain, Alex received another blow, this one directly on his spine. It hadn't been enough to crack Alex's spine, but it had been enough to really hurt. Alex got into the limo quietly, then sat in silence the rest of the way.

xxx

The limo reached its destination. The door opened and Alex was brought out to a place not unlike a SAS training camp. On one side was a low building, and the other buildings all seemed to be either barracks or guard towers. There was a large field in the middle of it all and a fifty-foot high perimeter fence topped with razor wire around the whole thing. Every fifty yards there were pairs of guards on lookout, and every hundred yards there were guard towers with four guards in each of them.

The field itself was so advanced that Alex felt as if he was in the twenty-fifth century. There were men tying complicated knots, men riding quad bikes, men sniping clay ducks, men cooking Italian food, men sliding down ropes five hundred yards high, men riding Jet Skis on the waves in a giant wave simulator, and men scuba diving. Men were also powering motorboats, piloting helicopters, small jets, and a small submarine.

But in the midst of it all, Alex noticed something wrong.


	3. Agent Carlson

There was not a woman in sight.

But there was no time to sightsee. The guard behind Alex shoved him forward, and Alex was taken past two guard stations, through a checkpoint in the giant fence, and into a large, gray building that reminded Alex of Mr. Blunt. The guards brought Alex into what seemed like an interrogation room, then turned and left. Minutes later, a bald man came into the room flanked by a guard cradling a submachine gun.

The man took a seat at a large table across from Alex. The guard brought out what looked like a fingerprint sensor, grabbed Alex's thumb, and placed it onto the sensor pad. After three seconds, the sensor beeped, and the guard let Alex's hand go and turned to leave the room.

The bald man smiled at Alex, a smile that showed a row of perfect white teeth that shined in the dull light of the room.

"Let's begin, shall we?"

Just then the guard entered the room with a regal-looking man dressed in a uniform that had the letters AUDMAN scribed into a gold bar on his lapel. The guard handed the bald man a note. Reading it, the man's expression changed to surprised. He looked up at Alex, then stood up and left the room, followed by the guard.

The regal man remained. He took the chair and motioned for Alex to sit in another.

"Alex Rider. Teenage spy. Here on Operation Circle Diamond, to find the people who stole the prized Circle Diamond worth six billion dollars. Well, you shall learn who took it."

Alex was very surprised . "Who are you?"

The man walked over to the door and made sure it was securely bolted. Then he took a pad of paper, ripped a piece out, and scribbled something on it. He then handed the paper to Alex.

_M16 Agent Carlson. ID9788983113. POCRDMD._

Alex brought out a sheet of paper folded up in his pocket and gave it to Carlson.

_M16 Agent Rider. ID141651697. POCDIARR._

Before the mission, Mrs. Jones had told Alex to do exactly this to confirm that the two agents were on the same side. Now Alex knew the identity of the other agent.

"Rider. Listen. This is how we'll do this. The arc lights in the training camp flicker on twenty minutes before it gets dark. All the guards are trained heavily in martial arts and all the things you saw out there in the field. You are probably no match for them. Nobody is allowed on the training field after dinner, which ends at eight-thirty PM. Between the hours of five AM and nine-thirty PM, no one is allowed to sleep. There are no women allowed in the area and-- "

Carlson was cut off by a knock on the heavy door. Striding over, he opened the door and was greeted by four guards.

"Is he ready to be taken to his cell?"

"Yes, you may take him over there now." Alex was brought out and marched to another building. This one was painted red on the outside and the door was guarded by two men cradling submachine guns. Alex was brought in and locked in a cell marked "MAXIMUM -54-". The cell was bare except for a mattress in one corner and a bucket of water in another. There was no way out unless the guards let you out. Locking the door, Carlson sneered at Alex. Then he made a gesture: _All part of the act. Keep movi.ng. _Then the outer door was bolted and the cell was cast into complete darkness.

xxx

**Thanks for the reviews! I will try to make my chapters longer now.**


	4. Gadgets

Alex Rider lay in the darkness, thinking. He was reliving his conversation with Smithers at M16.

"Alex, old chap! I'd say this mission was actually the easiest I've done--a classic stealth and spying run!"

Alex grinned. The same old Smithers!

"Welł, let's cut down to the chase, Alex. I have four gadgets for you this time. Here is the first--remember the iPod from the space hotel mission? Well, it's back! You can listen to conversations through walls up to one thousand yards away with it. And here is the second gadget."

Smithers brought out what looked like a pair of expensive Dior sunglasses.

"Alex, my boy, these sunglasses are superzoom binoculars, night-vision goggles, and micro cameras all in one. Press the little button on the right lens to activate the autofocus superzoom, the button on the left lens to take a picture, and the button in the center of them both to activate the night vision."

Alex took the sunglasses and iPod and pocketed them. "What's next?"

"Alex, this is a tranquilizer pistol. It can shoot two darts per second, and each dart has enough to knock out an adult for twenty minutes. There are ten darts in the pistol and four clips with ten darts in each clip."

Alex cradled the pistol and examined it. It was a work of art.

"And finally, Alex, your last gadget for this mission."

Smithers handed Alex a pocket canister of Bug OFF! insect repellant .

"This is not for melting metal. This is not for attracting bugs. This is certainly not for repelling bugs. This, my boy, is splinter spray."

"Um...what is splinter spray?"

"Splinter spray is a spray tht creates splinters. You spray it on a doorknob, gun, chair, anything, and if it comes into contact with skin, your skin will start growing splinters. Lots of them. And they will hurt a lot. The spray even works through clothing! Ah, poor Agent Withers. Her arm is full of splinters right now. But at least the test was succesful."

Alex took the canister and Smithers walked him to the door.

"Good luck, Alex. Good luck!"

And now, Alex had no luck. He was stuck in a bare cell with no light. The guards had taken his gun and iPod, but he still had the sunglasses and spray. Switching on his night vision sunglasses, Alex saw the same thing he saw when there was light. A bare room with a bucket of water and a mattress.

There was no way out.


	5. Tickle Torture

The next morning, the cell door opened and Carlson came in. He took Alex to a waiting helicopter. Two guards and the bald man Alex had seen the previous day was there. Carlson pushed Alex in and got in after him, then handed him a pair of binoculars. The helicopter rose about nine hundred feet and Alex could see the whole training camp. Carlson pointed to a spot and Alex homed in on it with the binoculars. He could see men packaging jewlery boxes and stuffing cartons into trucks.

"Can you hear anything?"

"These are binoculars. They only work on eyes." For this remark, Alex got slapped across the face.

"Dude. That hurt."

"Dude. Who cares."

xxx

Mrs. Jones scanned the computer screen. The lawt known location of Alex Rider was twenty miles from the target.

"I want a SAS team here. On the double."

xxx

Alex was blindfolded. For forty minutes the helicopter moved in different directions.

"Where are we going?"

No one answered. Then Alex felt the helicopter landing. Alex was brought out of the helicopter and taken into some building. The air conditioning fast-froze his sweat and he was taken somewhere dark. Alex heard a door slide closed and a light flicked on. There was a clang then Alex's blindfold was taken off.

He was in a square room with gray walls. A small table was directly under some sort of vent. Two muscular men stood at the other end of the room. A chair that looked strangely familiar sat at one corner of the room. Then finally the bald man, Baldy, was sitting on a stool, holding a glass of sparkling water.

"This is the Torture Room."

Alex's eyes widened. Baldy laughed, a cackling laugh that sounded right out of the movies.

"Let us start with the Tickle Torture."

"Wow. What a lamo namo."

Baldy snapped his fingers and the men grabbed Alex, stripping off his shirt and raising his arms above his head, latching them with shackles. Then a girl entered the room. She looked at Alex then her eyes traveled down to his armpits.

_Oh no._

The girl took a jar out of her pocket. In it were about twenty tiny spiders. Opening the jar, she poured the spiders on Alex's chest.

_Ah. Ah. This is bad._

"Do they bite?"

"No. They tickly tickly tickle."

The girl smiled and sat down to watch Alex's torture. Alex was not normally ticklish, but spiders were different. They really tickled. Ah! One got into his belly button! Agh...in his armpits!

Baldy spoke. "Prisoner. What is your name."

"Indiana Jones."

"Do you like the Tickle Torture?"

"This is amazing. You should try it."

_Snap._

Baldy was getting mad. "Very good. Is everything okey-dokey?"

"Wibbly wobbly wonderful, SIR!" Alex loved sarcasm.

"Prisoner."

"Whazzup Captain Hook?"

"PRISONER!"

"FRIZZINER!"

"I am going to carve your heart out."

"Very impressive!" Alex batted his eyes.

"That is it. Guards, torture sixty-two."

The guards marched Alex over to the door. They continued down a corrider to a door marked DANGER. Throwing Alex in, they hurriedly locked the heavy steel door. Alex was alone in the room.

Alex turned around and gasped.


	6. Komodo

There was a Komodo dragon sleeping in the room.

Alex had read about Komodo dragons and had seen one in a zoo, but this one was huge. Probably from eating too many prisoners.

The Komodo turned around and its large black eyes tuned on Alex. Komodos eat almost anything, especially if they are hungry, and this one definitely was. It was walking lazily toward Alex, is tail lagging behind, like a predator that knows its prey is helpless and trapped.

Alex looked around the room. There were heat lamps for the Komodo to sun, and several large rocks and boulders. Bones littered the floor-they were probably from unlucky prisoners set for the death row.

But this was supposed to be torture, they probably wanted the Komodo to maul him instead of kill him. Alex shivered at the thought.

Moving slowly, Alex picked up a large bone and remembered the scene from episode six of _Star Wars_. But would it work on a Komodo dragon? And that was just a movie, how about in real life?

Alex waited for the Komodo, his feet apart and braced. He was ready to roll into a small ball with his chest and neck protected if his strategy failed.

The Komodo was now about ten yards from Alex. Alex timed it exactly right and threw the bone like a javelin. But the dragon snapped his mouth shut and jumped away at the last moment and the bone hit his side, which would hardly hurt. The dragon and scaly plated armor and was very agile and could jump long distances.

Now the Komodo was on his guard and ready to charge like a buffalo. It launched itself forward and right when it knocked into Alex, it stopped suddenly, throwing Alex to the other side of the room. Then it turned and grabbed him between its teeth, shaking Alex from side to side. There was a small pool of water behind a large boulder and the Komodo slammed Alex into the water, fished him out and clawed at him. Bruised, Alex grabbed another bone and slammed it onto one of the dragon's eyes. Now very agitated, the Komodo head-charged Alex, throwin him off his feet. Then the dragon leaped up, caught Alex, and threw him against a boulder.

Alex lay still at the bottom of the boulder. He had probably broken some bones now. The Komodo was now over him, jaws apart and ready to sink its teeth into Alex.

Suddenly a door opened and a man came through. He was holding a laptop and now he pressed a key and the Komodo dragon fell in a heap.

Alex was amazed. "What was that?" was all he managed to say before he lapsed into unconciousness.


End file.
